Vanilla Cake with Strawberries and Dark Chocolate Frosting - AKA: The Taylor Swift 1989 Tour Cake
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Makes one tall 15-cm (6-inch) cake. Serves 8-10.
Ingredients
For the super dark chocolate frosting:
  • 113g (or ½ cup) unsalted butter
  • 300g (or 1½ cup) granulated sugar
  • 150g (or 1¼ cup + 1½ teaspoon) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 180ml (or ¾ cup) heavy whipping cream
  • 125g (or ½ cup) sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the cake layers:
  • 185g (or ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon + ½ teaspoon) unsalted butter
  • 185g (or ¾ cup + 3 tablespoon ) granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 180g (or 1⅓ cup + 5 teaspoons) all-purpose flour
  • 2¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • ⅜ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon table salt
  • 2 tablespoon + ¾ teaspoon buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the strawberry filling:
  • 150g (or 5.2 ounces) washed and hulled strawberries, sliced and cubed
  • 20g (or 5 teaspoons) granulated sugar
To decorate:
  • Fondant letters, sprinkles, edible glitter etc.
Instructions
Start with the frosting:
  1. In a medium-sized pan over low heat, melt the butter. Once melted, remove the pan from the heat. Add the sugar, cocoa powder and salt and stir with a rubber spatula until the mixture looks well combined (it will still be very grainy, but that’s normal).
  2. Add the cream and sour cream and, using a whisk, whisk until incorporated. Place the pan back on the heat (low) and heat gently for about 5 minutes, whisking continuously, until the mixture looks smooth and feels hot to the touch. You should no longer feel any sugar crystals when you rub a bit of the frosting between your fingers.
  3. Transfer the frosting to a heatproof bowl and whisk in the vanilla. Allow frosting to cool to room temperature, then place in the fridge for about 2 to 3 hours, or until spreadable.
Once the frosting is cooling, make the cake layers:
  1. Preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F (standard oven setting) and butter three 15-cm (or 6-inch) cake pans (I personally only own 1 15-cm pan, so I made the cake layers separately. See the notes for tips*). Line the bottom of the pans with baking parchment and lightly dust the sides of the pans with flour. Set aside.
  2. In a medium-sized bowl, using an electric mixer (or in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment) beat butter until pale and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add the sugar and mix until the mixture looks light and fluffy, another 5 minutes.
  3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, and mix until the mixture looks like thick buttercream, about 5 minutes. The mixture may separate, but if you just keep mixing it will come together again. Make sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl every now and then with a rubber spatula.
  4. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir with a rubber spatula until somewhat incorporated. Mix briefly with the mixer, about 30 seconds, then scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl again with your rubber spatula and mix for another 10 seconds.
  5. Add the buttermilk and vanilla and mix for 30 seconds, or until beautifully combined. Divide the batter evenly over the prepared cake pans, place on a rack in the middle of the oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.
  6. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then turn out on a wire rack and allow to cool to room temperature before frosting. You can also make the cake layers a day ahead. In that case, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap once they’ve cooled to room temperature and place in the fridge until needed.
Once you’re about ready to assemble the cake, make the strawberry filling:
  1. Place strawberry pieces in a bowl and sprinkle over the sugar. Toss to coat the strawberries in the sugar, then place in the fridge for 20-30 minutes, or until the sugar has dissolved and the berries have started to release their juice.
To assemble:
  1. Place a dollop of frosting on a serving plate and place the FIRST cake layer on top. This will be the bottom cake layer. Fit a piping bag with a small, round tip and fill with about 50g of frosting. Pipe a thin border of frosting around the outer edge of the cake layer to create a barrier.
  2. Spoon half the strawberry mixture (syrup and all) in the center of the cake and arrange the strawberry pieces in a single layer, out to the edges of the frosting barrier.
  3. Using about 100g (or 3.5 ounces) of frosting, frost the top of the SECOND cake layer with an offset spatula (or the back of a spoon). Place this SECOND cake layer FROSTING-SIDE DOWN on top of the FIRST cake layer and press down lightly. Why frost the second cake layer? Because the strawberry filling is quite wet, and if you would try to frost the top of the strawberry layer, the frosting wouldn’t stick to it.
  4. Grab the piping bag again and, again, pipe a thin border of frosting around the outer edge of the SECOND cake layer, too.
  5. Spoon the remaining strawberry mixture (syrup and all) in the center of the cake and arrange the strawberry pieces in a single layer, out to the edges of the frosting barrier.
  6. Now, using about 100g (or 3.5 ounces) of frosting, frost the top of the THIRD cake layer with an offset spatula (or the back of a spoon). Place this THIRD cake layer FROSTING-SIDE DOWN on top of the SECOND cake layer and press down lightly.
  7. With the remaining frosting, crumb coat the top and sides of the cake (apply a thin coat of frosting), then place the cake in the fridge for about 2 hours to firm up.
  8. Finish frosting the cake with the remaining frosting and decorate as a desired. I used cut-out fondant shapes that I had painted with gel food coloring mixed with a little kirsch and allowed to dry.
  9. The cake is best served at room temperature. After you’ve finished frosting, the cake can be kept at room temperature for about 3 hours. For longer storage, place in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days and remove from the refrigerator 3 hours before serving.
Notes
* If you only have 1 15-cm (6-inch) cake pan (like me!), you can also make the three cake layers separately.

In that case, just follow the directions in the recipe, but use the following amounts of ingredients per layer: 62g unsalted butter, 62g granulated sugar, 1 large egg, 60g all-purpose flour, ¾ teaspoon baking powder, ⅛ teaspoon baking soda, pinch of salt, 2 teaspoons + ¼ teaspoon buttermilk, and ⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract.

** You can make both the frosting and cake layers the day before assembly. Store the cooled cake layers, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, in the fridge until needed. Coved the bowl of cooled frosting with plastic wrap, too, and place int he fridge. Remove from the fridge 3 hours before you're ready to assemble.
Recipe by The Tough Cookie at https://thetoughcookie.com/2015/06/20/vanilla-cake-filled-with-juicy-strawberries-and-super-dark-chocolate-frosting-aka-the-taylor-swift-1989-tour-cake/